‘I only stopped off to buy some tea on the way home from work - then I won the lottery’

A lucky father from Devon took a detour to pick up some tea and ended up scoring the top prize of The National Lottery’s ‘Set For Life’ Game.

Sean Henderson, 39, won £10,000 every month for 30 years, after buying the winning ticket on 22 December 2025.

He said he had just finished work and popped to the supermarket to grab some tea but couldn’t find a parking space so decided to go to The Co-op in Ilfracombe instead.

It was then when a common bugbear of not being able to find a parking space turned into a life-changing twist of fate.

Mr Henderson said: “Thanks to the car park being full I was led to another supermarket and my National Lottery Set for Life luck.”

He added, “It was when I walked into The Co-op that I saw The National Lottery stand directly in front of me. Something just told me to buy a ticket - I was feeling lucky, and it turns out that I certainly was! This purchase has changed my life forever – and that of my little boy’s too!”

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It wasn’t until the next morning when Mr Henderson checked his ticket on the National Lottery app while he was making his first coffee of the day that he realised he had won.

“The ticket was on top of the microwave as I was making my coffee and I thought I had better give it a check,” Mr Henderson said.

He immediately stored the ticket in his favourite book in his bedside drawer for safe-keeping, not quite believing the moment that changed his life.

He added: “I was so scared of losing the ticket – or actually waking up and finding out it had all been a dream. I would literally wake up every single morning in the days which followed and continuously check the ticket over and over again – just to keep confirming that I was definitely a winner! The noise the app makes when you have won a prize is now locked in my head forever! I am probably singing it in my sleep!”

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To celebrate, Mr Henderson bought himself a cup of coffee and a sandwich and decided to leave a bouquet of flowers outside the supermarket he almost went to. He says he will thank it every Christmas for not having any parking spaces.

Mr Henderson, who has been a carpenter since he left school at the age of 16, is celebrating the win with a trip to a five-star hotel with his partner in the Canary Islands next week for his 40th birthday.

He is looking forward to moving into a new house of his own and treating his family to some meals out along with gifting his son a new Playstation 5.

Andy Carter, Senior Winners’ Advisor at Allwyn, operator of The National Lottery, said, “Sean’s story is a brilliant example of how a National Lottery win can come at just the right moment. After working hard since leaving school, the chance to really enjoy life and treat those closest to him is now possible with his fabulous Set For Life win!”